


New Beginnings

by GoldenPyrite



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gravity Falls Fusion, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Teenage Mabel Pines, bill is a smol child, dipper is the tall nerdy boyfriend, mabel ships them so hard, the billdip is strong with this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-09-03 13:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8714941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenPyrite/pseuds/GoldenPyrite
Summary: Dipper and Mabel Pines move to Gravity Falls to live out their high school years with family and friends. In the Pines' junior year, a new kid moves to town. Bill, the new kid, quickly becomes friends with Dipper. But do Dipper and Bill mean more to each other than friends?





	1. Prologue

When Dipper and Mabel were twelve years old, they were shipped off to the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon to spend the summer with their great uncle Stan and Ford. What was expected to be a boring summer turned into one of amazing memories and great new friends. When the twins returned home at the end of their trip, they practically begged to go back the next summer.

Two years later, towards the end of the summer before the start of high school, Dipper and Mabel asked for one thing on their birthday: to stay in Gravity Falls for the next four years with their “grunkles”, attending high school and wasting away the summer with friends. With reluctance from their parents and a promise of coming back home during winter break, Dipper and Mabel packed their bags and hopped on the bus to Gravity Falls two days later.

Grunkle Stan and Ford were filled in on the situation as the twins arrived, not expecting the sudden visit, but they were thrilled upon hearing the news. The twins immediately settled into their room in the attic and chatted excitedly, not being able to wait to see their friends at school in a couple of weeks. 

School came sooner than expected. The first day of school, the Pines twins walked to their new school with Candy and Grenda, two friends of Mabel’s. Dipper expected a lonely first day with only his sister and her friends, but found quick friendships with many others at school. Namely some juniors. He had made the mistake of developing a crush on this junior named Wendy, and often tagged along in her group of friends. She wasn’t at all embarrassed that she was being followed by a freshman, but instead played it cool. Dipper thought the only person who had trouble with him was Robbie, Wendy’s ex-boyfriend, and maybe that’s because Robbie noticed how much Dipper liked Wendy and Wendy liked Dipper (platonically), and found himself a little jealous. Dipper and Robbie bickered often, but never in front of Wendy.

Luckily, Dipper and Mabel also found more friends their age. Mabel had somehow befriended the town’s “rich girl”, Pacifica Northwest. Underneath her snotty aura and poofy hair was an actually kind and nice girl, who was just pushed too far by her parents. Mabel welcomed her with open arms and the two hit it off quite easily. Dipper, later in the semester, joined a science club (Mabel constantly teased him for it). He found friends in the three members apart of the club, and though they were all viewed as the school’s nerdiest kids, Dipper actually realized they were cool and had other interests outside of science. One of the three, Greg, was a sophomore on the basketball team. Kieran, a senior, was shooting for an art major in college, and Bradley, Dipper’s only freshman friend, was only in the club because his brother, who had graduated the year before, was in the club. The four got along nicely, and wished Kieran a cheery goodbye when he left for college at the end of the year.

Dipper went home to the shack that summer feeling extremely happy about the past school year. Mabel was no less upbeat about her “spectacular freshman year” and happily invited Pacifica over (Grenda was visiting her boyfriend in Austria, while Candy was in Korea with family), while Dipper invited Bradley. The four spent a joyful summer together until they all entered their sophomore year. Dipper entered the lab room the second week of school, meeting up with Bradley and Greg. The science club was down to only three members, but they were going to make the most of it.

Another year of school and summer passed quickly. Dipper and Mabel, now sixteen, had grown in the past couple of years and comfortably settled into the small town. No face was unrecognizable, and everyone practically knew everyone, so when a new kid showed his face at school, everyone burst into whispers and gossip. No one had seen this kid before, not even in town, so he must’ve been fairly new to have slipped by everyone. And because he had never been seen or spoken to by anyone, he was a complete blank slate. Where was he from? Was he staying in Gravity Falls permanently? What was his name?

Yet, no one approached him. They just whispered. 

Dipper, now a junior, was the first to talk to him. 

At lunch on the second day of school, he made an effort to sit by the poor, lonely boy. Bradley and Greg were clearly confused at Dipper’s absence, but trusted their friend’s judgement. Plus, it was about time someone talked to the kid instead of staring.

“Mind if I sit here?” Dipper asked. The new kid shook his blonde hair and let Dipper sit down beside him. He squirmed uncomfortably at the new person but kept quiet. “I’m Dipper, by the way. I’m a junior.”

The new kid stared at Dipper’s outstretched hand, hesitating before awkwardly shaking it. “I’m Bill. Sophomore.” He said in a very quiet voice. Dipper would’ve missed it, had he not been sitting right next to Bill.

“Well hi, Bill, nice to meet you. Welcome to Gravity Falls. You settling in alright?” Dipper put on his best smile, trying to lift Bill’s spirits up. The poor guy seemed nervous enough. Dipper knew what that felt like, being in a new school and all. He had switched elementary schools before sixth grade and did not accustom well to the sudden changes in teachers and friends.

“Yes.” Bill replied in the same quiet voice. He picked at his food almost anxiously. Was Dipper making him more nervous?

“You got any friends here? Family? When you move here, there’s always people you know first.” Dipper laughed. His grunkles had been his “people”, and while there was really nothing wrong about Gravity Falls, everyone knew everyone, and that was just how it was.

“No. No friends, no family.” Bill sagged in his chair. “My parents like the quiet.”

“Well, I get to be your first friend then!” Dipper exclaimed, lightly bumping his fist into Bill’s shoulder. Bill flinched away, but a small smile slowly grew on his face. Dipper didn’t miss it and smiled brightly back. “Well Bill, I’ve got all lunch to chat. How’s your first class? Did you get Mrs. Peters for English? God, she’s horrible…”

Little by little, as lunch spurred on, Bill loosened up and began talking freely, but still quietly to Dipper, smiling more often. Even though Dipper was loud and extroverted, while Bill was a polar opposite, the two found an amazing friendship between them. Maybe even something more.


	2. Friends

Dipper found that Bill was a clingy friend. Because Bill was so quiet and shy, he was very nervous and wary of everyone, even of the nicest people (but Dipper guessed Bill didn’t know that, being new and all), and clung to Dipper’s side like glue. Dipper really didn’t mind. He liked Bill and Bill was a really cool person, so if Bill clinginess came with his friendship, he was okay with that.

Dipper, as a friend of course, went out of his way to walk Bill to each of his classes. Dipper knew the halls better than Bill did, and quite frankly, the first time Dipper sent Bill off on his own, Bill had quickly wandered back to Dipper, embarrassed at his lacking sense of direction. But again, Dipper really didn’t mind. Bill was a good person to talk to, even if Bill didn’t talk much himself.

Since Bill was a sophomore and Dipper was a junior, they did not have much time together other than lunch. Out of their six periods, they had two together. Luckily, they both ended up with an open fifth period and saw each other first thing in the morning in their art elective. Dipper found that Bill really liked to draw, and used it to release tension. While Dipper wasn’t an artist himself, the class was divided into two parts, art and creative writing, so he enjoyed the writing portion a lot more. His Grunkle Ford, after all, had been a writer himself. During the time he stayed in Gravity Falls, he had compiled an encyclopedia-like journal on supernatural beings, complete with pictures, descriptions, and weaknesses. Of course, the journal was fictional and most of the creatures were based on either fusions of two animals or figures from mythology. Dipper discovered the journal in his grunkle’s room during his first summer at Gravity Falls and was hooked. After reading his Grunkle Ford’s fictional journals on the supernatural, Dipper was inspired to follow in Ford’s footsteps. 

During their art class, Dipper and Bill sat together, both engrossed in their activities. Dipper had begun writing ideas down for a supernatural book much like his grunkle’s, but crumpled the idea when he realized he would only be copying his grunkle’s work. Bill raised his head when Dipper angrily balled up the paper.

“You okay?” Bill asked in his same quiet voice.

Dipper sighed, dropping the ball of paper on his desk. “Fine, Bill.”

Bill took the crinkled ball of paper and opened it, his eyes skimming the words quickly. “This is good. Why don’t you think it’s good?” He looked at Dipper with big, blue eyes. Dipper could feel his heart speed up. Stammering, Dipper just shook his head and took the wad of ruined paper. He tossed it to the trash can, the paper thankfully falling into the bin. 

“My great uncle writes these supernatural novels, too. My writing is too similar to his.” Dipper told Bill as he ripped another sheet from his notebook and began writing again. A few minutes later, the paper was crumpled and tossed.

“Do you need help? I drew these creatures. Want to write about those?” Bill showed a detailed pencil sketch of a chimera-like creature. It definitely had three animals fused together, but the snake was replaced with a dragon’s head and the goat had large, spiky black horns protruding from its head. The lion, which made up the body, had large dragon’s wings with crooked talons at its feet. Just recently, apparently, Bill had decided to take a red pencil and color in the eyes of each creature. Only the lion and dragon had seemingly glowing red eyes.

Just as Dipper was staring agape at the first sketch, Bill pulled a folded paper from his notebook and opened it to show a mermaid. Well, merman. It wasn’t fully colored, but the merman’s tail and fins shone a bright blue green. Fins sprouted from its ears and the back of its tail. When Dipper looked closer, he could see the intricate detail of the webbing in its hands. The tail was long and curled towards the end of the page, the fin at the end flicking behind the merman’s head.

Dipper couldn’t believe the detail and effort Bill had put into these sketches. He was appalled on so many levels. In his shock, Dipper had somehow embraced Bill in a hug. After realizing what he was doing, he quickly pulled away, flushed and embarrassed. “Sorry,” Dipper stammered. “It’s just, your sketches are incredible! Like, the amount of detail you put into it! How long did those take you?”

Bill grew his own shade of red and looked down into his lap. “I drew the siren when school first started. It took about four hours at home and two entire art classes. The chimera I’ve been drawing over to past two days.”

“Well they’re amazing, okay? I am so going to write about these! Can I take a picture of them?” Bill nodded and Dipper pulled out his phone, snapping a few quick photos of Bill’s version of a chimera and a siren. If Bill had more of these, Dipper’s book would be filled with incredible creatures. 

Dipper opened the photo of the chimera and began jotting down different notes and stories about the creature Bill had created. He listed strengths and weaknesses, described the mythological story behind the chimera, and tried drawing close-up pictures of different parts of its body. Dipper sketches weren’t as greatly detailed as Bill’s, but he was proud. 

Bill showed a few more sketches to Dipper, to which he was delighted. Seeing Dipper happy made Bill happy, and Bill suggested that Dipper could write a book off of all of Bill’s drawings and they could collaborate on the book together. Dipper agreed happily. The two parted ways at the door to Bill’s next class, but neither of them forgot the promise they had made just the class before.

/////

As Dipper walked out to the parking lot with Bradley, he was suddenly aware of running behind him. Dipper turned to see Bill jogging up to him, looking frantic. The poor blonde was panting, holding a stack of notebooks and papers in his arms. Dipper immediately lightened Bill’s load, taking the notebooks. “You alright, Bill?”

Bill stood up, still catching his breath. “Sorry I’m late” He said timidly, wary of Bradley, who seemed unaware of Dipper and Bill’s blossoming friendship. Bradley was giving Bill weird looks, ones Bill didn’t like. He looked away embarrassed.

“It’s fine, Bill. My friend’s going to tag along today, is that alright?” Dipper smiled when Bill said yes, and led both his friends to his car. It was old and a little beat up, but it was a great car. The car used to belong to Stan, but since Dipper and Mabel turned sixteen, Stan decided it was better for them to have the two cars he had. He was planning on retiring anyways and had hired a few other teens to work alongside Soos to help man the shack. 

Dipper opened the trunk and placed Bill’s notebooks to the side, then tossed his backpack in. He let Bill put his own backpack in. Bradley hesitated, then decided to just keep his bag with him. Since becoming friends, Dipper also took the liberty of giving Bill rides to and from school. Bill's parents were always busy with work and usually got home in time for dinner. Plus, Dipper would never forgive himself if he made Bill walk home, especially since Bill lived so far from the school, towards the outskirts of Gravity Falls. Though it had only been three months, Dipper and Bill were quickly getting accustomed to each other to the point where Dipper started attending the science club less and less in exchange for hanging out with Bill.

Bill slipped into his usual spot in the passenger’s seat, forcing Bradley to take the seats in the second row. Bradley made a sour face, but slumped into the back, glaring at the back of Bill’s headrest. Dipper seated himself on the driver’s side and pulled out of the school parking lot quickly, not wanting to get caught up in school traffic. 

“Oh! I totally forgot to properly introduce you guys.” Dipper exclaimed as they got onto Gravity Fall’s main road.. “Bill, this is Bradley. Bradley, Bill. Bradley and I go to science club together.” Bill nodded and waved at Bradley. Bradley didn’t wave back, making Bill frown. The car ride was silent except for the quiet radio. They drove into a neighborhood full of nice, suburban houses, much more modern than Dipper’s home at the shack. “Hey Bradley, which one’s your house again? I always forget.”

“Take a left turn here, and then it’s the fourth.” Dipper slowly halted to a stop and unlocked the doors for Bradley, who got out of the car as quickly as he could. They exchanged hasty goodbyes then Dipper drove off, and it was only him and Bill. Bill was staring out the window as he usually did, watching the trees blur by as they approached the familiar road to the Mystery Shack.

“I need to go grab a few things, then we can go back to your place, okay?” Dipper asked, to which Bill nodded. Bill’s parents were away on a trip to Washington and because Bill was so clingy, he didn’t like being alone. Luckily, Dipper offered to stay with Bill at his house, which was a few miles away from the Mystery Shack. Besides, Dipper had recently spent so much time over at Bill’s (to work on their conjoined encyclopedia of monsters, of course) and Bill’s parents adored Dipper, almost like another son. Surely they wouldn’t mind if Dipper stayed over, right?

Dipper parked the car outside the front porch. Bill followed Dipper into the gift shop, through the “Employees Only” door to the living room, and the short flight of stairs to the attic. Dipper pulled out a small suitcase from underneath his bed and began packing neatly folded set of clothes among other necessities. All the while, Bill found a mild interest in Dipper’s home, secretly loving the mysterious vibe it gave off. He was a little envious Dipper got to live in such a cool place, with a cool (but fake) creature museum just two stories underneath. 

As the two walked out through the gift shop again, Bill commented on how he found Stan’s imaginative animal creations to be cool.

“You know they’re fake, right? Grunkle Stan does this all for show.” Dipper laughed, making Bill slightly flush. Bill knew they were phony, but it was still interesting. How could Dipper laugh at his great uncle’s fake creations, but marvel at Bill’s mythological drawings? Bill didn’t quite understand it.

“But it’s still kind of cool.” Bill replied, almost as a sassy retort. 

Dipper’s laugh seized up as they continued to the car. “At least Grunkle Stan has an imagination.” 

/////

Sometimes, Dipper wondered how he and Bill had gotten so close. If he was looking at his relationship with Bill from another person’s point of view, he would undoubtedly think he and Bill were in a relationship. Which wasn’t the case, but could easily be assumed. C’mon, they practically spent every moment they could together, rode to school together, walked to all of Bill’s classes together, and even sat close to each other under the tree by the football field. Who wouldn’t think they were dating?

Anyways, Dipper had only know Bill for three months. That was too early, in Dipper’s standards, for a romantic relationship to emerge from two friends. That’s all they were. Friends.

But Dipper could feel his cheeks heat up as he sat on the bed next to a sleepy Bill. Dipper had offered to sleep on the floor beside Bill’s bed, but Bill insisted they share the bed. Bill had one of those queen-sized beds that could fit two, unlike Dipper’s small twin bed back at the Mystery Shack. Hesitantly, Dipper crawled underneath the covers next to Bill, his entire face burning a bright red. It was awkward, but at the same time, surprisingly comfortable. 

Bill murmured, shifting in his sleep. He inched closer to Dipper, making the red-faced brunette scoot away until he was at the edge of the bed. Turning his back to Bill, Dipper quickly reached out to the lamp and flicked it off, leaving the moon as the only light source in the dark room. He let out a yawn and pulled the covers further over his body. Still facing away from Bill, Dipper slowly closed his eyes, drifting off into the sleep he needed to catch up on.

Dipper, already almost asleep, could do nothing as two frail arms latched around his waist and stayed there for the rest of the night.


End file.
